Nora Spencer Hamner (January 6, 1895 – November 17, 1971) was an American public health nurse known for her work fighting tuberculosis in Virginia. She is known as the first public health nurse trained in Virginia.^[1]

Nora Spencer Hamner was born on January 6, 1895, in Buckingham County, Virginia, to Susan (née Henry) and Walter Clifton Hamner.^[2][3][4] She graduated from Schuyler High School in Schuyler, Virginia in 1906.^[2] She graduated from the Memorial Hospital Training School in Richmond in 1914.^[2][5]

Hamner was a nurse and supervisor at the Memorial Hospital from 1913 to 1914.^[2] She was a public health nurse in Darlington County, South Carolina from 1914 to 1917.^[2] She then traveled as a field nurse across southwest Virginia to assist towns across 47 counties with developing clinics to diagnose tuberculosis.^[2]

She served as the executive secretary of the Richmond Tuberculosis Association from 1919 to March 31, 1962.^[1][2] In that role, she gave talks and worked with groups, including the Virginia General Assembly.^[2] She also played a large part of developing rehabilitation programs at the Pine Camp Tuberculosis Hospital.^[2]

Hamner helped recruit nurses in Virginia during World War II.^[2] She also helped recruit nurses during the polio epidemics of the 1940s and 1950s.^[2] She was a member of the Virginia Red Cross for 35 years.^[1]

Hamner was the first woman to serve on the Medical College of Virginia Board of Visitors and its executive committee.^[2] She also served on the board of trustees of the Medical College of Virginia Alumni Association of Virginia Commonwealth University.^[1][2] She was one of the founders of the Virginia Council on Health and Medical Care.^[1]

Hamner lived in Richmond and had a summer cottage with a wildflower sanctuary near the Blue Ridge Parkway.^[1][2] She was a specialist on wildflowers and an avid gardener.^[1] Hamner was a nationally accredited flower show judge.^[2]

She was the aunt of Earl Hamner.^[6]

Hamner died on November 17, 1971, in Richmond.^[2][4] She is buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery.^{[citation needed]}

Awards presented to Hamner:

• 1942 - Richmond Professional Institute presented the first Nancy Vance Pin Award to Hamner for her work as a public health nurse^[1][2]
• 1951 - Hamner received the first honorary degree presented to a woman by the Medical College of Virginia, a Master of Science in nursing^[1][2][7]
• Douglas Southall Freedom Award from the Virginia Tuberculosis Association^[1][2]

The Virginia Tuberculosis Association established the Nora Spencer Hamner Award. It is still presented by the American Lung Association of Virginia.^[2] The Medical College of Virginia Alumni Association of Virginia Commonwealth University helped raise funds for the Mahoney-Hamner Nursing Alumni Lectureship. It was named for Anne F. Mahoney and Hamner.^[2][5]